


Complimentary

by bonsaiCatnip



Category: Homestuck
Genre: 'broken' eridan, Fluff, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, M/M, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, So when does this story get 'good'?, confused feelings, watch BC abuse the tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-12
Updated: 2012-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-29 09:36:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/318455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonsaiCatnip/pseuds/bonsaiCatnip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If I said I wwanted your body, wwould you hold it against me?"</p><p>"Of courth I would, athhole."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Complimentary

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda set into a random AU in the Veil/Meteor/Thingamabob/random 3 years portion where all the dead trolls came back some how because reasons.
> 
> DONT JUDGE ME D:
> 
>  
> 
> Just... enjoy~
> 
>  
> 
> PS: I'm MOST likely going to be adding more chapters to this, I'm just... still figuring out what all to do with it *and I haven't written smutty stuff in FOOOOREVER so yeah~*

"If I said I wwanted your body, wwould you hold it against me?"

The comment, to be sure, had caught him off guard. The lot of them had been caught in the veil for the longest time it seemed. The humans had joined up with them. Well, had finally joined up with them all together. They'd appeared in two's which he was ok with, but the final two had brought along a sprite. How they'd managed to pull that from the scratched session, he had no clue. But either way, he hadn't paid them much mind.

It was when their fallen compatriots had begun reappearing over this three 'year' journey that he'd really started caring again.

That, and he hadn't heard the voices in a long, long time.

That he was glad for.

It meant, for now, their rag tag band was safe, but that wasn't what was gnawing on his mind at the moment.

No.

It was the fact that standing before him was the bane of his existence, and he'd posed one of the most unnerving questions he'd gotten in a long while. It wasn't a hard one, to be sure, but the fact that he was actually thinking about it...

"Of courth I would, athhole." His brows pulled together at the center, not quite angrily, but lacking in mirth as he stared down the seadweller behind red and blue lenses. Not that his vision ever really came back so he could... actually see properly again. He knew where he was. He could make out that much, but the colors were lost to him.

The hemospectrum, as far as Sollux was concerned, was dead. His world was now bathed in blurry, black and white masses that moved across his vision. Any details he wanted he had to feel out for himself, either with his still recouping psionics, or with his hands.

"Sol..."

Oh. So he was still there. He let his fingers tap gently against the keyboard, long since having memorized the keys where vision wasn't really necessary to mess around with his coding hobby, but not bothering to type anything out. Annoyed though he was, he was still focused on Eridan, and whatever it was he was getting at.

Really, he'd though that the Prince of Hope had given up on his quadrant chasing habits. He'd barely broached the subject with his usual targets, and had, since his second chance at life, been rather reclusive at the best of days. Him actually gathering up the nerve to make first contact was... a little refreshing. He wasn't quite acting like the same culled barkbeast he had when he'd realized he was once again alive.

Though Kanaya had wanted to nip his problem in the bud.

Slowly Sollux raised his head just a bit, breathing out a tiny huff of air as one eyebrow quirked ever so slightly, a silent indication that if he had something to say, he'd better spit it out and get out of his face before he found himself less than gracefully launched out of the computer lab.

And he faltered. He could tell the confident pose he'd been... trying? to hold had crumbled as caped shoulders slumped, creating a bit rounder a 'blob' that was Eridan. Hands that had been held at his side met in front of. Playing with his rings, probably.

But he stayed silent.

He gave a light snort, turning back to his computer, fingers clacking away at keys as he typed out line after line for some new virus that would never be used. He suppressed a slight growl that had been threatening to build in the back of his throat as Eridan simply remained behind him, silent, the only sounds coming from him were a light bit of breathing which, if he were correct, had been an attempt to stay silent, and the gentle swish of fabric as he fidgeted with himself.

It was kind of pathetic, he thought. And stopped that line of thought right there. His fingers stopped flying over the keys at about the same time, and he let Eridans little inquirry roll through his mind again.  
'If I said I wwanted your body, wwould you hold it against me?'  
He forced himself to start typing again. Slow. Deliberate. There was something about the way he'd said it. He replayed it over and over. Again and again, turning it over in his head, and still the seadweller just stood there behind him.

Normal circumstances would have smacked him straight across the face for leaving himself so open to the other, but as far as anyone with eyes, blind or otherwise, could tell, Eridan was a broken man. All of his bite and bravado had been seeped away when he'd been shorn in half almost a sweep ago. Maybe that time in limbo had done him some good?

His feet shifted and Solluxs typing came to a halt once more, and it seemed like the two were having some kind of competition, to see who would crack first and disrupt the near absolute silence in the little used computer lab.

"S-sorry..." It was quiet, but still came out loud in the smallish room, just above the lazy din of the computers. Durring their game, he'd never even dreamed he'd hear that word come out of his mouth. Well, unless he was talking to Feferi, but ever since 'things' the psionic didn't think he'd seen him talk to her once.

"For what." He didn't give him time to turn on his heels. He heard the swish of fabric that betrayed the motion, but his feet hadn't even been able to leave the floor yet.

There was a pregnant pause, and Sollux was half sure the other was actually thinking about it. The other half through he might be trying to just think of a way to abscond faster.

"For a lot of things." That same little swish, and the other settled in, it seemed. Silence settled in again as he waited for the seadweller to continue.

He waited for a while, but nothing came after that. His eyes closed as he reached out with invisible whisps of psionic energy, gingerly feeling his way over the other. Something was off. More off than usual, and damn if he wasn't going to let some visual impediment keep him from figuring out what the hell was going on. He felt the jerk before he heard it when Eridan figured out what he was doing, the other raising his hands as if to fend off the unseen tendrils. Not that he could have done too much to stop them. But the gesture was amusing.

"H-Hey noww, Sol, wwhat the hell!" There was a slight edge to his voice as the tendrils finally hit his shoulders. Really, it wasn't like he was being held in place, they were just... exploring. From what he gathered, the seadweller was wearing almost his usual attire, though the rings he'd though would be on his fingers were definitely not there anymore. The scarf was missing, and even the thing that he'd thought was a cape felt more like one of the blanket things the humans had brought to them. He felt the seadweller shiver a little, which wasn't too odd. "Sol, stop.” He’d imagine that the psionics trail probably tickled a bit in some places more than others, but nothing more than that. But they stopped as they got to his cheeks.

"Sollux..."

Not even quite all the way to his cheeks, pausing at his jaw line when skin felt a bit more... damp.

Well...

"ED..." He turned in his chair, his face laced in scrutinizing concentration as he looked up from his seat to see the seadwellers head bowed, one hand cradling his face and the other pressed against the first, just standing there. Then it occurred to him.

How long had Eridan actually been back among the group?

Everyone had been back together for a long time already, but... How long?

How long had he been ignored? Completely ignored, not just the casual brush offs from back in the game. Had anyone been talking to him at all? Why did he care? Did he really care?

No. Not really. Everything that had come Eridans way so far, he'd brought upon himself. He'd tried to kill him, HAD killed Feferi and Kanaya, had been an all around asshole to the entirety of their little group, and now, was it really too little too late for him to turn it around?

"What." Solluxs voice remained level as he stood, staying beside the chair, just a few paces between him and Eridan as he looked him up and down in the most figurative sense. It hadn't so much been a question as the simple punctuation of the word through the silence, a clipped staccato as he waited - half waited - for the other to pull his shit together and look him in the face. "What the hell are you trying to do here, ED? Did you come here to hit on me or have thome kind of mental break down or what? What? Thpit it out already or go and find thomewhere elthe to cry yourthelf a river." His lips quirked down at the edges, threatening to hide the fangs that protruded at either corner of his mouth, but they remained with a persistence that hadn't let up over the sweeps.

There was a sharp intake of breath as the stability the seadweller had been rebuilding cracked again and he whimpered. He actually whimpered.

What had happened to the strong and brazen royal troll that never failed to piss him off in the past? Where did he go, and where did this mess of a sobbing wriggler come from?

No. Beating up on him, verbally or otherwise, had gotten to be too easy.

He let out a sigh.

Fuck. What the hell had happened. Everyone else seemed to be the same, or at least close enough to the same that it wasn't that much of a stretch.

But this. This wasn't the same Eridan. Not by a long shot.

He stood there and waited. Waited for some kind of response as the other did his best to hold in stifled sobs and he wondered what kind of self pep talking had made him think to come to Sollux of all people. What kind of last ditch effort had this been?

He rolled the cheesy pick up line he'd started with over in his mind again, once more reworking it.

'If I said I wwanted your body, wwould you hold it against me?'

His attempt at being normal? Was he trying to live up to everyone's expectations of what people thought he was supposed to be like? Or just what he thought Sollux expected him to be like.

"Thtupid..." Another stifled sob and the psionic took a step forward, which got Eridan's attention far faster than the word. His hands dropped from his face and he watched Sollux approach.

Another step and he was backpedaling, hands up in front of him as he was reached for.

"Wwait- Sol, I'll go-I don't wwanna fi-" He stammered, faster than he could really get the words out.

The psionic's hand curled in the front of his shirt and the seadweller tensed, wincing before any blows even connected and froze in his spot. He guessed he'd been asking for it, not getting the hell out of dodge when he'd been told to, but he'd wanted to say more.

He just... Couldn't.

And so, he'd take his beating and go limping back to his room like he'd become accustomed to.

He braced...

Waited...

And waited...  
But nothing connected.

This wasn't right. There was supposed to be some kind of noise, flesh and bone meeting flesh and bone. Or was he just waiting for him to drop his guard. Very slowly he let out a breath he'd been holding, eyes kept shut as tightly as he could manage, the tension in his shoulders not letting up in the slightest as he felt the hand buried in his shirt keeping the fabric taught against him. It wasn't like he couldn't pull away from the simple grasp. Well, if the other decided to hold him with his powers, he wouldn't be able to, but this hold was only physical. But again, he'd earned whatever beating he'd gotten. At the very least, he owed it to the other troll for what he'd done.

There was a lot of things he'd done that he regretted. More than he could actually remember when he actually tried to think about it. All the time in the game he'd been nothing but an insufferable prick, and if this kind of treatment was what he'd earned, he'd take it.

After he'd come back, he'd gotten the same rundown on the plan to defeat Bec Noir and Lord English that the rest had, and been rather forcibly made to understand that, well, he would not be tolerated. Not so much he himself, but anything that was him before, would be met with, well, zero tolerance.

At first he'd been indignant. Insulted. Flat out pissed off.

Well... Until Feferi had given him the most painful verbal beat down of his life, her trident pointed directly at him and with a fire in her eyes that burned blacker than any kismesitude he'd ever heard of.

And it was completely platonic.

After that, he'd retreated. Hadn't known what to do with himself for the longest time.

That had hurt.

Still hurt.

And now, he was going to hurt again, in a different way. He imagined those same eyes behind the reflective red and blue of Sollux's glasses. Glaring at him with a rage that would probably burn till he bit the dust. Again.

Yet still, time seemed to draw out, and no blows came. He could feel his own heart beating hard against the inside of his chest as he slowly lowered his hands, though he wasn't sure where to put them. Grasp Solluxs arm, or just let them hang at his side, they hovered a bit in between as he tried to keep the shake from them.

Still nothing came aside from the constant tug at his shirt, and he finally relented, yellow eyes cracking open, focusing on the long, clawed fingers twined in his shirt and carefully tracing a path along the arm connected to them till his gaze came to rest on the other tolls face.

But he still didn't meet his eyes, keeping himself on guard as the psionic regarded him with a critical look.

"Wwhat...?" Wasn't he going to wail on him? Beat him within an inch of his miserable life and leave him to limp back to his respite block? That's what he'd have done himself, had the tables been reversed.

Eridan figured his last ditch effort for some company would have been his most reckless, the yellowblood being known for his more than violent mood swings and relatively foul temper with those outside of his quadrants. Or former quadrants, as it might have been. He was so out of sorts with the gossip on romance for all he knew that John human could have hooked up with Equius and be in the most lovingly romantic matespritship known to troll kind. Not that he really wanted to think of something like that. Not at all. But for all he knew, it could have been fact.

"You're thtupid." Sollux said again, pulling Eridan out of his little inner musings once more, and he held in yet another flinch as the hand uncurled from his shirt, moving upwards but bypassing his face and burying fingers into the purple shock of hair, anything but roughly, and he stared.

He stared at the underside of the arm that was all but blocking his vision from the others face, which, dare he assume, had softened marginally, the gentle mussing of said fingers in his hair solidifying the loop he'd just been thrown for and stupefied his brain.

What.

Just.

Happened...

"...S...Sol...?" His words were soft, straining to keep the hopeful tone from the single syllable as his eyes darted from his arm to the face of the troll it was connected to. This wasn't... This wasn't right. This didn't add up at all.

Did.. Had he caught Sollux at the best possible time? Or was it at his worst, and this was just going to turn into some kind of stupid 'enjoy that false sense of security Eridan but I'm about to fuck you up' game to help pass this timeless expanse of waiting before they hit their final destination?

"Jutht... Thhut up, Eridan..." The hand slipped from his hair almost casually as he turned back to the computer, quickly saving the unfinished coding and locking the computer, his mind working a mile a minute as he went over again and again both what he was doing and Eridan's stupid little cheesy failure of a pick up line.

'If I said I wwanted your body, wwould you hold it against me?'

Fuck. Stupid Eridan. Stupid pathetic Eridan. Gog fucking damnit, why hadn't he seen any of this oh so long ago. "Thtupid..." He whispered to himself, though if Eridan heard, he didn't much care, or make much of an acknowledgement that he'd heard it. It didn't matter at this point. He'd set things in motion, and pulling out now would just be cruel. To himself and to Eridan. With other paths exhausted, there wasn't too much to lose at this point, so giving something a try wasn't that much of a risk. The worst that could happen would be this simply not working out, and at best. Well.

It was hard to find happiness on this gog forsaken rock.

Real happiness anyway.

And spreading that to others would only help boost the morale that was strained at best. Sure the meteor was a bit more homey these days, not having to immediately worry about what kind of horrible death anyone would be facing. There was still another human year's time before destinations were reached, and Bec Noir catching up with them soon after, but for now, their main goal was to simply not go stir crazy.

He shook his head, pulling himself out of the wandering train of thought, looking up slightly to the blurry shape that was Eridan, the slight curve of his shadows telling him in volumes how he hadn't quite switched out of his little meek posture, though he wasn't exactly cowering any longer.

Until he approached him again, anyway.

It was shocking, this change.

He still remembered the Eridan from a sweep ago, all boast and no bite, full of bravado that puffed up his own sails, but all that wind had been sapped away, leaving behind a still, shallow pool that was a far cry from a raging ocean.

Pity if it all dried up.

He gave his head another little shake, holding out a hand to the other, trying to keep his face even, mimicking the poker face Strider always seemed to boast, seeing how much the other would be willing to give on his own without any real promises of just what he was planning.

He figured he'd had the other confused beyond all reason. Hell, he wasn't sure himself what was going on, but he was just going with it. Riding the waves, as it were.

"Sol, I-"

"I thaid 'thhut up'." His voice was clipped, and he could practically feel the flinch from the seadweller, and he almost regretted cutting him off. "You alwayth ruin thhit when you thay thtuff..." He let his words soften, no longer waiting for Eridan to pussyfoot around and reaching a bit blindly for the others hand. A little fumbling later, he had the others awkwardly in his grasp, and didn't bother to correct it as he turned towards the dark spot on the wall that he knew would be the door. "Jutht... go with it for now... Kay, ED..?"

He heard something behind him as two sets of footsteps meandered down the hallway, and he figured the other had nodded. He guessed he hadn't gotten used to the fact that he was still practically blind. He could honestly recall on one hand how many actual conversations they'd had since Eridan had joined up with them again, but the last had still been a few perigrees ago.

Meandering down the hallway, unmistakeably towards where most of the respite blocks were located, Sollux pondered if this were the best choice of locations, but it was one of the only places he could think of where interruptions would be at a bare minimum. He didn't want to give Eridan the wrong idea just yet, cause he wasn't entirely sure what the idea he'd be giving him was. He wasn't sure he was ready to put any kind of major label on the things he was feeling just yet. Maybe after he'd thought about it, but not quite yet.

It was a long silent walk, but eventually they reached the door to the psionics room, and the door 'swooshed' open mechanically, as it always did. At first glance the room seemed bare though, closer inspection would show the little personal touches that tipped it to just this side of 'homey'.

The pair lingered at the door, Eridan waiting for instructions, Sollux mulling over what the hell he was doing time and time again. He looked around his room, the term used rather lightly as he more so mentally took stock of what he could use and what would just get in the way of creating a suitable pile. As he waited, though, he could feel the others hand begin to tremble in his own, and he wondered just what was going through his mind.

He could only imagine.

"Give me a hand." The words came out casually enough as he finally lead the both of them into his room, heading over towards the human bed that had proved to be a far more comfortable place for him to work at than the chairs of the computer lab when he'd wanted to be alone-alone, and was all the more glad he'd made the decision to have one alchemitized for his space. They weren't so bad for sleeping on, either. He wondered what Eridan's reasons were for being 'with blanket', but figured that as far as the Alternian opinion of beds went, they were probably all in the same boat, more or less.

He pulled out some extra pillows from under his bed, having gotten a couple of feelings jams on with Feferi, Aradia, and even Karkat when his troubles revolved more around problems with the honk happy clown than he could really handle in a face to face with his Moirail. They'd always had some strong chemistry that borderlined pale, though the smaller troll's quadrant was already occupied, so he just sat back in reserve. They could thank the human's influence for that. That the pale spaces could be a bit more... Shared. It worked for the kids, and it was slowly rubbing off on the trolls. Just as the trolls quadrant system was beginning to rub off on the kids. Some mores than others.

The small mound of pillows just grew as he pulled the sheets and blankets up from his bed, fluffing the pile into something that looked quite inviting indeed and motioned for Eridan to offer up his own blanket into the mass.

The seadweller looked at the outstretched, expectant hand and just pulled the blanket even tighter around himself.

What, was he nervous or something?

Probably.

He rose his eyebrows at the tiny little noise that came from Eridans direction before being quickly and mercilessly stifled.

Definitely.

Sollux let his hand drop to his side with a sigh of annoyance. Here he was trying to actually be nice to this douchebag and he was just gonna sit there and get all nervous and flustered and freeze up? Of course. His hand found it's way behind his neck, scratching lightly as he tried to figure out what to do next. It wasn't like he was the master of feelings or anything like that. That was KKs department, definitely.

Sitting on the bed, he leaned back into the pile of fluff and cotton. Man, it really was comfortable. "Will you jutht get your ath over here..." He half said, half groaned. Yeah, totally the most comforting of words that could fall out of his lispy speech hole. But it seemed they'd do the trick, and he closed his eyes as he listened to step after timid step cross from the door to his bed, the quiet shooosh of the door closing when it was no long obstructed giving them levels of privacy that could never be achieved in the open computer lab, and he realized in that instant, as the bed depressed, indicating the cautious addition of one Eridan Ampora to his own personal bed, what exactly was going on here.

He, Sollux Captor, was undeniably, hopelessly in pity with the once stuck up fishy asshole of a royal-blooded douchebag, Eridan Ampora. At any other time, had this idea been proposed, he'd have probably laughed, punched the messenger in the face, hauled them up with his psionics, and then punched them again.

And probably curb stomped their ass for good measure.

And sicked his bees on them.

And laughed.

Then probably hunted down the seadweller in question and punched him too, just for good measure and to get any notions of pity out of the heads of them both.

But no.

As the weight settled, leaving a bit of distance between the two of them, the thought of just leaning over and wrapping him up in one of the tightest hugs he could, just to let him know it would be ok, was almost painfully overwhelming.

He was still working on coming to terms with this revelation, and those kind of thoughts were a bit strange to swallow, and he scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to think of what exactly he was supposed to say now that his brain had decided to daydream off into la-la-land when he was supposed to be figuring this out. What to do, what to do.

Fingers fumbled against his glasses, and honestly, at this point, they were a bit more of a hindrance than a help. He just wore them out of habit, and to save the others a bit of mental grief, though pretty much everyone was used to his black and white eyes nowadays. Well, no. Not really true there. There was a slight pinkening to the lighter eye, the darker having shifted over time do a dark, dark navy. Though to him, everything was still just grey.

He pulled them off, tossing them towards his night stand, but the extended clatter proved he'd missed by a mile.

He sighed, pressing his fingers against his eyes as he pondered once again just what the hell he was doing. He chanced a glance over to Eridan, and it wasn't hard to gather that he was at about the same point as the psionic, curl up against himself and leaning gingerly against the pile. The tight line that was Solluxs lips relaxed a bit, followed by a marginally softer sigh and he reached out, letting his fingers brush against the others shoulder, gripping the fabric even as he felt the seadweller flinch at the sudden cling and tugged him towards him sharply.

It didn't take much to knock the other off balance, and the sudden jab of the sharp point of a horn against the psionics arm was the reward he'd gotten for the move.

"Glubbin' hell, Sol-" There was an indignant shout that was abruptly stifled, almost like he'd scared himself with the sudden loud outburst, and he was half scrambling to sit up again after the sharp hiss of pain that the lowblood had released.

But the hand in his shirt stayed, and Sollux shrugged off the wound like it was no big thing. "Nuh uh, ED. You're thtaying right here." His other arm moved, looping it around Eridans shoulders as he blindly guided himself to nestle a bit behind the seadweller, not sure if he'd be dealing with a struggling Eridan a moment later or... well... just what he'd end up dealing with. At this point it was a master level round of playing it by ear, and as the seadweller tensed in his arms, he regretted a bit that it was harder than he'd expected to keep track of where the ends of those horns actually were. But he'd be ready if they got too close.

"S-sol, wwhat the hell are you doin?" He was still tense, quiet words still loud in the silent room. But Sollux couldn't quite place the emotion behind them. It wasn't really something he'd heard from Eridan before.

"I don't know, ED..." It was a truthful admission. Like hell did he really know what he was doing, and as he let his head lean forward he felt the brush of hair against his nose. He could smell the tang of the sea off the other troll, even so long after such a place had even existed. Feferi had never smelled quite this way. Then again, she smelled like the sea in her own way. Maybe it was a seadweller thing? But that didn't really matter right now. What mattered was the small little shiver he felt from the other troll as he nuzzled oh so gently against the back of his neck.

He was...

Amazed.

Amazed that he was doing this.

Amazed that Eridan, the troll he'd swore up and down would hate him platonically for the rest of their natural, or unnatural as was now the case, lives would give him the chance to get close enough to one of the least protected areas on their person. Much like the submission reflex that was an inborn reaction when the base of ones horns was assaulted, the neck was something of a critical region when it came to establishing dominance, and, well, staying alive. He thought about it as he let his lips rest against the skin at the collar of the seadwellers shirt, just how easy it would be to let his fangs sink in and finally, officially claiming a win over his unofficial rival.

But he could feel how stiff the other had gone. Stiff, but he wasn't putting up a fight.

"It'th ok..." The words came out quietly against his neck as he buried his face against it, forehead resting against him as he tightened the awkward hug just a bit. He doubted the other would believe him outright, but at least he co-

The sudden rustle of sheets and near flailing movement of the other had caught him off guard in the most epic of ways, leaving Sollux all but stunned as he suddenly found his arms full of the seadweller as he flipped over, snaking his arms around the slightly smaller trolls chest and hugging tightly to him, trembling, but pressing as closely to the other as he possibly could.

The psionics arms hovered as he tried to make heads and tails of what had just happened. The soft whine that came from the troll that had suddenly attached himself to his person drew his attention back to the matter at hand, and he pulled the others blanket over the both of them, wrapping his arms around the other once more and settling his chin against the others head, the sharply curved horns resting just so against each cheek, a rarely used purr rumbling up softly from the yellowbloods chest.

'If I said I wwanted your body, wwould you hold it against me?'

Well, he had said yes.

He just hadn't thought he'd meant it literally.


End file.
